[Tempest35]

Originally Posted by chibamonster

Spoiler for wrapped for length ^^:

It seems to me that while the other claymores may look up to Clare she is not one to take responsibility willingly. She shrugged off Flora's invitation to become a leader. While she may or may not have lost the sword style competition Flora was the second highest ranked claymore there meaning there were plenty of opportunities for her to lead. Clare did not want to. I still think Clare is the most lone wolf of any of the ghosts. She goes out and does her own thing even at Miria's disapproval. She was the same before when Jean followed her; it was not like she asked Jean to be her shadow.

After the time skip Clare went off by herself again and Denve assigned Yuma to go with her indicating that Clare would just as happily have gone alone. It was not the first time that she had searched the north. Clare also planned to go to the south by herself. She did not invite the others to come with her. Miria actually disbanded the ghosts at that moment saying she would go with Clare and the others invited themselves along by choice. Clare is with the group but I do not think they are unified by a common goal at the moment. Moving together is the best thing to do at this time but I do not think the ghosts will stay together forever, although I would like that. Clare has been too willing to leave to have solid loyalty to the group itself even if she does care for the other ghosts. Clare seems much better at producing loyal followers than she is at actually leading. Too bad for her she loses her followers and Miria actually is following Clare at the moment.

While Miria may be respected and trusted Clare obviously has her own agenda. Remember when they rescued the claymores from Riful? That was Miria's idea but instead of following Miria's order Clare did not scatter and stayed behind to chat with Riful for her own personal reasons. Clare is still a lose cannon. A powerful one who tries to do the right thing but seemed all to willing to put her life on the line, almost as if she has a death wish.

As for Miria's leadership it seems her strength in Pieta was planning, organizing and preparing so that she does not have to do much actual leading in battle. Once organized the different cells worked without her having to manage them. Miria could then just be another leader of a smaller group and focus on her target. I think her struggles with the responsibility she holds are quite touching, freezing up when things go really bad, crying when she realizes she only could save 7, terror when she sensed Rifuls strength, genuine concern when Clare says she will consider working with Riful and so on. I do not think Miria is a leader because she likes doing it. If anything we see plenty of her weaknesses and struggles from it. It seems that training the ghosts to fight as a unit is a simmilar concept to Pieta; Miria does not tell them what to do as they already know their roles and how to work together taking advantage of each other's strengths and covering for their weaknesses

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It's almost weird how well Clare and Miria fit together despite being so different. As I've alluded to before, these two fit just like Griffith and Guts did when they were still the White Hawks. I believe that Griffith was telling Casca how he always knew that Guts was a hot-head and eager to rush in so he made his battle plans with that already in mind. I see Miria doing the same, if not similar, with Clare whenever they go to fight together.

Miria also knows that one day, Clare will leave them - she has to. While I wouldn't say that Clare has no group loyalty; it was Miria herself who 'disbanded' them just to follow through with the revenge for Pieta and her original intent against the Org. All the Ghosts, except for Yuma, are united by the desire to avenge the fallen so that's the common goal they'll work for, even if some of them take different paths to do so. They are also united in that they are not just comrades but friends instead of just being thrown together as usual.

If I may, I see Miria as wanting to follow Clare, not into battle or anything, but just in general - being with her rather than following her. She has a quality that makes strong people gravitate to her, despite her being weak. Clare's not fully aware of this so she tries to push people away from her because of her own experiences that nearly everyone around her gets hurt in some way. Clare just needs to get it through her head that whatever happens - it's not always her fault. Life's just that way.